The Republican journal., 1887-10-06
The Making of Meat for the Multitude.

| New i Ork: u. Appleton ~ company. tl1ty
cents a number. - Il year.
The Making of Meat for the Multitude.
To THE EDITOR OF THE JOURNAL: A de-
scripton of the establishments where our
dumb animals are slaughtered may be of inter-
est to your readers. By an ordinance of the
city of Boston all cattle, sheep and swine to be
dressed in its precincts must be killed at the
Brighton Abattoir, Il large building, OF success
sion oi buildings, covering several acres of
land. In the basement of this building is an
engine of several thousand horse power which
moves a long and large iron shaft, extending
| the whole length of the structure, and which
does all of the hosting heretofore done by
windlass or ether hand device. One side of
| this buildin" contains long rows of stalls, just
| wide enough to admit one animal, the front
| having iron bar doors. The cattle are driven
| into these stalls, which by Il nice arrangement
close up from the pressure weight of the
animal, which is then in Il very close pen, at
! the mercy of a repeating rifle which brngs
| down whole rows as fast as the marksman can
| walk along, each crack of the rifle reducing
the number of the animal kingdom by one
is then bed and the machinery attached that
raises or lowers the carcass at the pleasure Of
the butcher, who by pulling a cord, puts the
| machinery in or out of gear.
| One item at this stage startles the country OBJ
| server. Each butcher has dipper and INDUCES
freely in drinking the warm blood. Very
| many patients who are ordered here by their
| physicians do the same and remain near the
cattle. which it is claimed impregnatc the air
| with strong, hcatll-giving odors. Very many
people come to Brighton Abattoir pale and
>ickly, and after using the blood of these sleek,
fat steers return to their homes ro>y-cheeked
| and healthy.
| 1t is astonishing to see how small a Job
it is,with this improved machinery, to dress 100
oxen. 1t is really less work than it was fifty
year, ago to butcher one animal. Twenty cat
tie per day is considered fair days work.
III WING of this sane building the innocent
little lambs are slain. Very many experiments
have been made to ascertain how this could be
done 10 caG-e the least pain, and the method
| now used is to stun the lambs with small
| lanmer before bleeding them. Sheep and
| lambs are handlet-clanged or driven from
| lHn to pen os from c;,r> TO Abattoir-by learn
ed dogs and sheep. The principal firms have
~'-;cr;i learned >l,"ap who will lead the way
into the slaughter pens, followed by their un-
| sll>pc"tiug country cousins, and will instantly
retire like some i.nIS in human form. after
cntrappin5 the Innocent.
| The shepherd dogs III constant use about these
| places ar2 wonders of ani'nal Intelligence.
! They undeg t,ud distinctly ali instruction, and
control til" iocll> in manner beyond human
| skill The, arc even >agaeious enough to tlis-
| ti"-lli,h paint marks and designate colors.
| These dogs and the learned sheep are fast
friends and in>cparatie companions. There is
| one Old Wethcr who has Travelled between these
! pens for ten long years in ,lccoyiny his woclly
mates to destruction. Age begins to tell on
| him ausi will soon rio>c his career. What if he
| shall ha obliged TO meet in some hereafter Of
| She, p,ioM his n;,:}y deceived mates.
! sheep butchers i:.yaIiahly >huoder at killing
| lan5S, Is no anjMi;d will glance up and show
such fright and innocence as little lamb; yet
| il j. common mans >tcnt to dress 100 per dav.
on@ tilGn at the Brighton Aba,toir slaughter
each 3ay of the week, sunday included. an
Average Of fifteen hundred head.
HOGS are mol slaughtered in tie limits Of
| Boston, Two large firms have immense c>tab-
,,-nynt> located IL Cambridge, Mass, and one
- Belmont. Jobu T. ~ltlirc probably butchers
i@Go hog, per day The Year through. The
building Is six stories hi-h and each hos i'll pro-
cess Of Cre>Sn, visits each story, carried who'll
I iy hy machinery and steam power. First,
the hogs are uuloarIed from the ears into
! close pen where stand, It boy with IL small chain,
V hrh : snapped onto the hind leg OF the ami
mai, who instantly finds himself suspended in
mt air. In his ascent he is stuck by man
who stands out ON platform and whose only
work is to no this is ;l," animal goes past him
| III jhc ascent. Next he is dropped into cal
| moments. Then, a. if alive, he starts head
| foremost and passes up through cylindrical
/ piece of machinery containing >crapcr>, brush
Is and other devices, and comes out on the
on until the porker i, hung away in the re-
| frgerator room, clean. neatly dressed piece
OF pork This immcnce piece of machinery
moves on like Il great clock, assisted now and
/ then by the hand OF man. to change the most
| filthy If domestic animal to dainty pieces Of
I ham, tentcrou steak. and >alI>a@cS. All these
operations, combining capital ana ingenious in.
vcntion>, are essential in helping to feed the
| people OF this vast and fast increasing country.
|. G. LIBBY.